Two weeks after awarding its starting quarterback spot to Bishop Miege graduate Montell Cozart, the Kansas University football program picked up an oral commitment from the player who followed in Cozart’s footsteps.
Late Friday morning, Miege senior-to-be Ryan Willis announced via Twitter that he had committed to play football at Kansas.
“It is pretty cool,” Willis told JayhawkSlant.com of the path of Miege quarterbacks to Kansas. “Hopefully Miege will have the starting quarterback for the next six years at KU. I am going to work my butt off for it.”
Willis, a 6-foot-4, 201-pound athlete who is ranked as the state’s third-best prospect in the class of 2015, picked the Jayhawks over offers from Illinois, Kansas State, Tulsa and Wyoming and interest from Iowa State, Missouri, Minnesota and Oklahoma State.
KU assistant coaches Reggie Mitchell and Ron Powlus were listed by Rivals.com as the lead recruiters for Willis, who recently told JayhawkSlant.com that he was a fan of the Jayhawks’ new offense brought in by first-year offensive coordinator John Reagan.
Willis, a three-star prospect, is ranked by Rivals as the 17th best pro-style quarterback in the country. He chose Kansas despite receiving his first offer from Kansas State, where his father played college football.
Willis missed a couple of games of his junior season due to a concussion but appears to be back to full speed. He received rave reviews for his performance at the Dallas stop of the Rivals Camp Series in March, when he was ranked as the sixth-best performer at the event after its conclusion.
Willis is the first player in the Class of 2015 to commit to Charlie Weis and the Jayhawks and the seventh quarterback signed by Weis in three seasons at KU.
“It was an awesome and a great feeling to tell him,” Willis told JayhawkSlant.com of committing to Weis on Friday. “He told me how excited he was to have me as a Jayhawk. He talked about helping out with other recruits in the 2015 class.”
